Product Description

When Peter Brandon, a gifted young artist awakens from a coma of three years, he learns that his lover, Phillip, was brutally murdered and no one brought to justice for the crime. With the help of Andrew Connor, his physical therapist, he slowly regains his strength, but it is not until he visits Phllip's graveside and receives an affirmation that his dead lover is somehow guiding him to the truth, that he feels the need to get on with his life.

Through mutual friends, he meets Jeff Stevens, an ex-cop now a PI, and together they discover that Phillip was not the victim of a random gay-bashing, but of a deliberate act to silence him. They unravel a web of lies, deceit and a friend's treachery. During their investigation, Peter and Jeff find a mutual attraction for each other, a situation that is thrown into jeopardy in their final face off with Phillip's killer.

In his first novel, J.P. Bowie turns in a fast paced page turner filled with a likeable community of characters that will delight readers and keep then entertained till the last page.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #584801 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 264 pages

About the Author
J.P. Bowie was born and raised in Aberdeen, Scotland. After a stint on the London stage, he emigrated to the US and currently lives in San Diego, Ca.

Customer Reviews

Tragedy + Mystery = Romance and A New Sleuth
J.P. Bowie, in A PORTRIAT OF PHILLIP, has created endearing and complex characters in his novel. This particular edition is the paperback version of the original published some years ago. We first meet Peter Brandon, a young gay artist, while he is caught in the swirling darkness of a coma. The coma is the result of a brutal beating, one in which is lover, Phillip, is killed. Peter emerges from his coma 3 years after the assault, to discover himself in a hospital room, being tended to by a physical therapist, Andrew, and his devoted mother, Eva Brandon.
During his recovery, Peter commits himself to finding the men who committed the crimes against himself and his lover Phillip.
Enter Jeff Stevens, a gay ex-cop, who through a series of coincidences, happens to know about the crimes and Andrew's lover David. Introductions...yada..yada...and Jeff begins to search for the criminals with Peter. Along the way, they find themselves mutually attracted,...and...the story progress from that point. Needless to say, the resolution to the crime is satisfactory, and a new love,as well as a new "detective team", is born.

This is an interesting and sensitive book, permitting the reader to examine an entire host of emotions. It is essential to read this book first if one is going to read the 3 subsequent books based upon the Brandon/Stevens relationship. I highly recommend this book.

Good one
This a gay mystery, a good one. In some places it is a bit too sugary and the clues leading to the murderer are handled with a heavy hand but since this is the author's first book, it's understandable and the series itself, further cases solved by Peter and Jeff, looks rather promising. I will definitely check it out. What I did like about this book was that it was all about the characters and plot, so there was very little sex that some authors use to patch empty space. And I really loved the supporting characters.

Icon of Phillip
I thought this book would be a combination gay romance and "mystery" novel. In some ways it is, but in another way not. It certainly is a powerful gay romance novel, as it spotlights at least three warm and loving gay relationships, counting the one that develops between Peter and Jeff during the novel, and two couples who are close friends of Peter (Andrew and David and the British couple, Rod and Arthur). And it is a bit of a "mystery" what will happen to the fiends who killed Phillip and bashed Peter, though the reader learns early on who the bashers/killers are. It is a bit of a suspense novel, since the bashers/killers stalk our intrepid heroes and nearly do them in several times.

I enjoyed reading this book, and I loved the major characters. It convinced me to read at least one or two more of Bowie's PI novels about Jeff and Peter to see how their relationship develops. Pleasant diversion.